Victoria Hahn always wanted to play Division 1 hockey, but she never could have envisioned the journey that would lead her to the University of Michigan.

Just four years after taking up goaltending full time, Hahn earned a partial scholarship with the Wolverines’ women’s hockey team beginning in 2019-20.

“I didn’t really know how possible that was,” she said. “It just felt really out of reach, so the idea that I did it, it hasn’t sunk in.”

Unlike most players who excel at a certain position early in their development and then climb the ranks, the 18-year-old from just outside of Stratford took a different path.

Her first time playing goal was in Timbits hockey, and she hated it. She played again that season and was soon begging her parents to make the switch permanent.

Problem was that Hahn was typically taller and stronger than most of the players, and she had a knack for scoring.

“I was just always in the right spot at the right time and very positional,” she said.

Hahn, the daughter of Mike and Amy Hahn, was a forward with the Stratford Aces and stayed on the wing when she joined Mitchell as a first-year bantam, but she couldn’t ignore the growing desire to strap on the pads.

Her next opportunity came late in her first season with the Meteors when the team’s goalie was injured. Hahn made the most of her opportunity, even though the team lost.

“I didn’t really know what I was doing, but it was fun,” she said. “Everyone was really supportive.”

Hahn officially changed positions the following season and started working with goalie instructor Cory Campbell.

“He basically taught me how to be a goalie,” she said. “He gave me the confidence to go out and perform the way I did. He allowed me in my head to give me the skills to go and make the teams I made.”

There was ample motivation for the second-year bantam, who knew she had to improve quicker than anyone else if she wanted to realize her dream of an athletic scholarship.

The Meteors struggled in Hahn’s first season in the crease, but as the team’s only goalie she benefitted from the increased workload.

“It felt so foreign at first,” she said. “It’s just so different. You’re totally flipped (and) looking at it from a different perspective.”

Mitchell Minor Hockey President Mark Stephan was thrilled with Hahn’s achievement, saying as one of her former coaches he saw firsthand how hard she worked.

“She worked hard at it. At first her glove hand was weak and she knew it, so I brought a ball glove and I’d just get her in a goalie stance and whip balls at her for 15-minutes before every game,” he recalled.

“She wanted to get better, with her every year it was a big jump in her improvement. It was crazy.”

Hahn’s next step was moving to Windsor, where she attended A21 Academy. The second-year NCAA prep school didn’t have a girls hockey team, so Hahn practised with the boys while playing for the Provincial Junior Hockey League’s Southwest Wildcats.

Michigan’s coach came to a playoff game and liked what he saw from the five-foot-11 netminder. Hahn – who went to Stratford Central through Grade 11 – visited the school’s campus in Ann Arbor and Dearborn, where she’ll study pre-business.

“I’d been talking to some other schools at the time, but I hadn’t felt comfortable with any, and I went to Michigan and (thought), ‘I could see myself being here,’” she said. “It was the first time I felt that way.”

“Vic is one of many good players to come out of Mitchell in the past few years,” Stephan said, adding that he believes one of the key components for her success is the fact that Mitchell Minor Sports tries to keep smaller teams across all sports at the younger age levels.

“This philosophy not only allows for more playing time at the developmentally important younger age levels but it helps our small town sports to continue to be successful,” he said.

Stephan said on behalf of Mitchell minor hockey, they wish Hahn a sincere and well-deserved congratulations and “is proud she’s able to continue the long line of great athletes coming out of Mitchell’s systems.

“It just goes to show, talent if you have it can be found anywhere,” he added.

But Hahn still has a sense of awe as her dream gets closer every day.

“Right now it doesn’t really feel real,” Hahn said. “I try to think about it, but I can’t put it into my imagination yet because I don’t know how to do that.”